Don't Judge a Geek By Her Cover
by mon-petit-pois
Summary: Ziva goes undercover again...
1. Chapter 1

A/N: ok, I have posted this story on FF before, but it had tons of mistakes and terrible formatting. It was embarassing. That being said, there are still tons of grammatical errors, and I really don't want to read it again. Sooooooo try to ignore them:D I wrote this on my ipod, and it deleted three times, so I had to rewrite it three times!

Ding! The elevator doors opened and Tony, Ziva, and McGee straighten in their chairs. Simultaneous "Good morning boss"s sounded in the squad room. But this morning, Gibbs didn't settle down into his desk like normal. Instead, he grabbed the keys to the van and tossed them to Tony.

"Got a dead petty officer at Quantico: grab your gear. Get the van, DiNozzo." He said. Now THAT was normal. The team grabbed their backpacks and exited the squadroom. Tony tossed the keys up in the air, intending to catch them under his leg, but Ziva was quicker. She snatched the keys from his reach.

"I am driving today" she stated simply.

"I hate to burst your bubble Zee-VAH but boss told ME to drive."

"NO, he told you to get the van. He did not mention anything about you driving." she stated.

"She's right, Tony" says McGee.

"Shut up McNosy. Mind your own business."

"It is my business who will be driving me, Tony"

"And that is EXACTLY why you should be backing me! Do you WANT to end up wrapped around a tree trunk?"

"Are you saying you doubt my ability to drive us to Quantico without killing us?" Inquired Ziva.

"Yes I-" began Tony before Gibbs interrupted him.

"DiNozzo!"

"Yes boss?"

"Let Ziva drive."

"Are you sure boss I mean I just ate breakfast and- of course you're sure." sighing, Tony finally let the subject drop. But he knew his breakfast was going to end up on the floor of the van.

"Time of death, approximately 9 hours ago, Jethro." Ducky informed Gibbs. Then he turned to the woman's body laying face down on the grass behind a house. "Now what WERE you doing in your backyard in your pajamas the middle of the night? Oh yes, this reminds me of the time when I slept walked into my backyard. I woke up in the middle of the night And hadn't even an inkling where I was!" the doctor said with a chuckle.

"What is an 'inkling' Ducky?" asked Ziva

"Well-" Ducky begins to reply, but is interrupted by Gibbs saying,

"David, bag-and-tag. DiNozzo, crime scene photos. Be sure to get the inside of the house too."

"Sorry Ducky," she apologized before taking off to get the evidence bags.

"That's quite alright, my dear. Mr. Palmer, would you be so kind as to fetch the gurney?" requested Ducky.

"Yes, doctor." replied his obedient assistant.

"You got a preliminary cause of death yet, Duck?" asked Gibbs.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say gunshot. As to which one of these two, I won't be able to say until we get her back." replied Ducky, pointing to the two bullet holes in the Petty Officer's chest.

"What about the other one, on her forehead?" asked Gibbs.

"That one was delivered postmortem, otherwise the blood pooling would be much greater. Yes, most likely the shooter was making sure he had finished the job."

"So this was a professional hit." said Gibbs.

"It is certainly looking that way, isn't it? But I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet." Ducky replied. McGee stood up from beside the body where he had been positively matching the body to the sole owner of the house.

"Finger prints confirm that the victim is Deborah Crenshaw, Navy Petty officer, lives alone, works for a military company that is developing new technology for the Navy. Spotless service record, but there is a restraining order. Her co-worker claimed that she was snooping around, she had been seen outside of his house many times. He never got a judge to sign off on it, though."

"Name?" Asked Gibbs

"Jonathan Paisley." said McGee.

"Start with him-" Gibbs began but was stopped by Ziva calling.

"GIBBS! I THINK I FOUND SOMETHING!" Quick as a fox, Gibbs went to go see what's up. DiNozzo was waiting for him at the door.

"We went to check out the study and we found something interesting." Gibbs walked in and was met with the biggest bulletin board he had even seen. It was cluttered with pictures and post-its. Most of the pictures had a sort of "stakeout" look to them, and almost all of them had a common figure in them. According to the post-its, it was Jonathan Paisley.

"Maybe that judge should have signed off on that restraining order after all," McGee mused.

"Maybe we should think about this a different way." Ziva said. They were back in the squadroom and were brainstorming motive for murder. "It appears that Petty Officer Crenshaw was stalking Paisley. Former lover? Maybe she was hoping for them to be come a couple...? UNLESS she wasn't stalking him, she was investigating him!" Ziva suddenly exclaimed.

"That's a good point." McGee said. "Her notes indicate that she thought Paisley was involved in some kind of crime. The reports from Stranzen Military Research Company, or SMRC, which is the company Petty Officer Crenshaw works for, had been suspicious that someone was leaking info about the Navy from inside Stranzen. Maybe Petty Officer Crenshaw became suspicious that it was Paisley. But why not go to the police?"

"She probably wanted to confirm her suspicions before she cried bear" Ziva theorized.

"You mean cried wolf," Tony corrected.

"What is the difference? They are both deadly animals!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"On average, only one American gets killed by a bear each year, Ziva" McGee told her.

"Whatever."

"So what do we know?" asked McGee. "We have a Petty Officer who was either stalking or investigating her co-worker." McGee puts a military photo on the plasma of a nerdy-looking woman in big, thick glasses. The name under it reads Deborah Lynn Crenshaw. He puts up another picture, this one of a civilian man. He was balding at the top and his hair was starting to turn gray. They recognized him from the photos on Crenshaw's bulletin board. His name says Jonathan Robert Paisley. McGee continues. "We know that he was suspicious of her and her intentions. They both worked at Stranzen, a company developing and researching new technology for the Navy. There is a leak in the company that is leaking military secrets. We think that maybe Crenshaw thought that the leak was Paisley, so that was the reason she was following him and snooping around into his private life. Then Crenshaw is shot in her backyard at two in the morning in a style that suggests professional hit."

"If this is the case then we need to speak to Paisley now." Tony says, heading for his phone.

"Wait," Ziva demands. "If we alert him now we loose the chance of taking down whoever he is feeding the information to."

"C'mon, Ziva, don't make this more complicated than it really is."

"Ziva's right" Gibbs said, looking up from his desk. Tony started. He had forgotten that Gibbs was even there.

"Jeez, boss, what are you, anti-Tony?" Tony complained. Gibbs ignored him.

"We need to send someone in undercover."

"I'll do it." offered Tony.

"If we were to do it, someone would need to be hired. The best way to do that is to pretty much duplicate the Petty Officer's personality type. Her record shows that she was well liked by her superiors. Since she is dead, her bosses will most likely want to replace her as close as possible. We need a woman." Three heads turned in unison to look at Ziva. As much as she tried to hide it, she cracked a smile. But it slowly disappeared when she realized what Gibbs expected her to do. She was going undercover as a geek again. Uh-oh.

A/N: Please please please leave a review! Reviews are love3


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: thanks so much to everybody who story alerted, author alerted, and favorited AND ESPEICALLY REVIEWED this story:) this is the next chapter, tell me what you think!

Ziva was having a huge déjà vu. She was standing in Abby's lab the next day. Abby was putting Ziva's hair up in a tight bun. Her glasses had a built-in camera. They were huge and thick. She was make-upless, not that that ever bothered her. She normally didn't wear makeup anyway. Her heels were black and clunky, not at all flattering. And the panty-hoes! Ugh. She was wearing a skirt and a purple turtleneck blouse. Over that was a pink flower patterned formal suit-jacket that reminded her strangely of her grandmother. But as if that wasn't enough, she had to have a pearl necklace and earrings. They also put an earwig in her ear.

"You will be undercover as a computer genius in Stranzen Military Research Company. If they don't hire you at first then we will play the federal agent card. You are a geek with limited interpersonal skills, which is good because we don't want anyone too close to discover you true identity. Abby has created your alias. Your name is Rachel Day-vid. Spelled just like your real name, except for the pronunciation. Born in Massachusetts. Parents still live in Gloucester. One brother named Tony. There will be someone listening in on you at all times. Any questions?" Gibbs asked. This was the most they had heard him say at once in a long time.

"Just two" said Ziva. "Where am I supposed to put my gun?"

"On your waist, unless we have you in pants. Then it will be on your ankle." said Gibbs.

"Ok. But also, you said I am a computer genius. I know NOTHING about computers!"

"You didn't really think that WE didn't think about that, did you Zee-VAH? McGeek will guide you through it." Tony told her. At that, Gibbs left the lab and got in the elevator.

"Are you waitin for an invitation, Miss Day-VID?" asked Gibbs sarcastically "Your interview is at 1:30. You don't want to be late."

Ziva pulled up in a silver accord that they had rented for the occasion to the front of the SMRC building. In her ear, she was putting up with Tony's car gender issues AGAIN.

"Shut up Tony, I am going in." she told him. When he acted like he didn't hear her, she screamed "DINOZZO!" she could almost hear him jump. He immediately fell silent. She cracked a little smile. It had taken what felt like forever to get here. She had been told to drive normally. She didn't have her badge on her, so if she got pulled over she wouldn't be able to show them her badge and get on with her life. She was officially Rachel David now. She needed to stop acting like her self and start acting... Geeky.

The interview wasn't any easier with Tony making unwanted comments in her ear. But she couldn't tell him to buzz off unless she wanted Mr. Cotier, her interviewer, to think she was crazy. McGee's instructions during the computer test were very easy to follow, and Ducky's suspicion that Cotier would respond to her similarities to Petty Officer Crenshaw proved themselves correct. She passed the interview with "swimming" colors.

"Congratulations, you got the job, Miss David. I will show you to your desk. You may report to work tomorrow morning at seven o' clock. Please follow me." he told her.

"Good job, Ziver." Gibbs applauded her. She smiled. It wasn't often that Gibbs told someone they had done a good job, so when he did, she knew he meant it. Cotier stopped, and Ziva almost ran into him.

"Sorry," she said, "I can be such a klutz sometimes." Cotier ignored it.

"This is your cubicle. You may get settled in. You know, you remind me a lot of her." he mused. Even though she knew full well who he was talking about she asked,

"Who?"

"Your predecessor, Deborah Crenshaw. She died a couple days ago." He replied.

"Oh my, how did it happen?"

"Gunshot." he told her and walked away. As soon as he was gone, she breathed a sigh of relief. She sat down in the chair and turned on the computer.

"So you're the new girl?" asked a woman. Ziva spun around.

"Uh, yes. I am new." she answered, and flinched. What a terrible response. Then again, she was supposed to have zero interpersonal skills. But she needed to befriend SOMEONE so she could gather information and have access to the gossip. "My name is Rachel. Rachel David. And you?" she contiued.

"Sydney Bennett." she told Ziva, "Welcome to Stranzen. Would you like a tour of the facility?"

"That would be great!" Ziva told her, "Thanks."

"So you must be the replacement! DEE-lightful!" sneered Jonathan Paisley. They had completed the tour and were returning to Ziva's new desk when they were stopped at the cubicle next to hers. Ziva recognized Paisley from the photos in Crenshaw's office. And he was not a pleasant man.

"Reminds me of Snape, from Harry Potter." Tony commented.

"Ah, so the movie buff knows Harry Potter!" said McGee, "I thought you don't read?"

"I don't, I watch the movies."

"He reminds me more of a goblin," McGee replied.

"What from one of your video games, elf-lord?" Tony teased. Ziva could hear the headslaps.

"How about both of you SHUT UP?" Gibbs said. Finally, silence. Now Ziva could carry out a conversation with her prime suspect.

"You remind me a lot of that nosy bitch that got herself killed a few days ago." Paisley continued.

"Um, thanks?" she replied.

"But I mean that in the nicest way possible." he "assured" her.

"C'mon we have things to do," Sydney said, and grabbed Ziva's arm and pulled her next door to her cubicle. Sydney was very lucky Ziva was focusing so much on NOT being herself at that moment, because that little elbow-grab move would have earned her a kick in the gut and a front flip onto the floor if Ziva had been herself.

"Charming, isn't he?" Sydney asked sarcastically. "

"Mhmm. Why didn't he like Deborah Crenshaw?" Ziva pretended like she didn't know. She wanted to hear someone else's side of the story.

"He thought she was stalking him. He filed for a restraining order last month but it never got a judge's signature. I never believed Deborah would do that sort of thing, and she never told me the whole story. But she did show a sort of unhealthy interest in him. It puzzled me. He's not exactly the type of man anyone wants to spend more than a minute around. Now I guess we will never know her reasons." Ziva really hoped this wasn't true.

A/N: reviews= 3.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: It's a long one, and a cliffie:) sorry haha not really

"How's our little geeky friend?"

Tony teased when Ziva returned to the squadroom that evening.

"My hair hurts, and I have been itching to shoot something ALL DAY." she complained.

"Hair can hurt?" Tony asked, confused. Soon they heard the elevator ding.

"You're back! How did it go?" Abby asked as she strode into the squadroom.

"Boring. There is no ACTION there!"

"It's an office," McGee told her. "What were you expecting? A shooting range?"

The elevator door opened with a ding and so did the automatic sliding doors shortly after, a sound Ducky was quite accustomed to.

"Got a cause of death, Duck?" Gibbs asked as he arrived in autopsy.

"My initial suspicion was correct. She was killed by gunshot number two which penetrated her left atrium. Death was instantaneous. As for the first gunshot, it severed her aortic artery. The third was delivered post-mortem to ensure that she was dead. It's most likely that the killer lured her out to the yard, then shot her twice from cross the yard. She fell, the killer crossed the yard. The killer didn't want to check for a pulse, because that could have left a print on her body. Instead, he ensured her death by shooting her point blank in the forehead, execution style. This is smelling more and more of a professional hit, Jethro!" But when Ducky turned, the doors had shut and Gibbs was already gone.

"This has got to be the most boring undercover mission EVER,"

Ziva mumbled. It was the morning and she was sitting at her desk with the phone to her ear while she was talking to Tony through her earwig. She was waiting for her lunch break, when most of her division would be out eating together. She needed privacy so she could snoop around Paisley's desk.

"This isn't exactly a party for us here either, Zee-VAH," Tony said.

"Well, it could be worse, we could be McGee," Ziva pointed out. He had been doing her work all day. They had decided that it would be easier for McGee to hack into the server and do her work for her than for him to tell her what to do all day.

"True," Tony agreed, "But really, I have been sitting in MTAC ALL DAY. All i have to do is listen to McGeek type away."

"I am sorry this is so inconvenient for you, Tony." Ziva said sarcastically. "I could be doing anything else right now..." Tony continued.

"Tony! Your whining is really getting on my nerves! Good bye." She said and put down the phone. But sadly, putting down the phone didn't mean that would shut him up. "

"Mreowwww," Tony Imitated a cat.

"Boyfriend?" Asked Sydney, peering around the cubicle wall.

"Brother," Ziva replied, "I don't have a boyfriend. I spend most of my free time knitting."

"Oh." Sydney said. She sounded disappointed, like she was hoping for good gossip.

"Hey, do you want to join our lunch group?" she asked.

"I can not come today, I have a lot of work to do, but I can come tomorrow."

"Great! We are going to Mr. Wang's Chinese Restaurant tomorrow. Hey, maybe you can bring your brother! I would love to meet him!"

"No, no, no, NO, Ziva!" Tony growled.

"Thanks! I have a feeling he will be free tomorrow." Ziva said with a smile.

"You are dead meat, David." Tony threatened.

It was finally lunch break. Her section of the building was abandoned, so she could investigate Paisley's desk without being worried about being caught. At first sight, nothing seemed "hinky." In one drawer was a picture of a woman and 3 packs of cigarettes. In the other was...

"It is locked, Gibbs."

"Locked is good. Locked means he has something to hide. Pick it." Once she unlocked it, she opened it and found a notebook, full of numbers and letters.

"This is the leaked information, Gibbs. Paisley is our leak!" Ziva said and cheered internally.

"Don't get too excited yet, David. It's not enough for a conviction," Gibbs warned. So she snapped a few pictures of the notebook and moved on. As she dug through the contents of the drawer, she noticed some slips of paper that were clipped together.

"Receipts, Gibbs. There are 13 receipts here all from Mr. Wang's Chinese Restaurant. That's where Tony and I are going to lunch tomorrow..."

"Why would someone keep ALL the receipts from a single restaurant?" McGee asked.

"That's what Tony and Ziva are going to find out tomorrow."

"Don't tell me I have to..." Tony complained.

"Tony gets to go undercover as a geek as well!" Ziva said with a grin.

Tony was living one of his worst nightmares. He looked like Urkel. His glasses were as thick as his thumb and were the size of a baseball. His hair was parted to the side and greased down flat against his head. He was wearing and a t-shirt that was tucked into his pants. They were pulled up to his belly button. The white socks were pulled halfway up to his knees and he was wearing shoes that made him truly look like a clown. This was going to be a long day.

Ziva was tired of waiting. All she had to do was tell McGee her assignments and watch her mouse move across the screen. The clock on the wall ticked sluggishly, almost as if to annoy her. When lunch break finally came, she practically leaped from her seat. The restaurant was just a few blocks from SMRC, so there was no need to take her rental car. She sat next to Cotier and two seats away from Sydney. The empty seat to her right was reserved for Tony, who had just walked in. It was all she could do not to fall on the floor laughing. He looked like that character from that one American TV show... What was his name? Steve... Urkel? Yes that was it. Tony looked like Urkel.

"Hey, Rachel." He greeted her.

"You're family DiNozzo. Give her a kiss." Gibbs ordered. Tony was in no position to argue, so he wrapped his arms around Ziva and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Hi." she replied.

"Have you guys ordered yet?" He asked.

"No," Cotier replied, "We just got here ourselves."

"So, you name is Tony, right?" Sydney asked Tony as he took his seat next to Ziva.

"Yup" he answered.

"Where do you work?" she asked.

"I develop video games and sell them to distributors," he responded.

"Oh," she said. She had obviously determined that Tony was as geeky as he looked.

"I'll pay," Tony offered. "Ha! Good luck with that! Paisley always insists on paying the bill when we come here. He won't have it any other way. It's really quite nice of him," Sydney told him.

"Ah, don't mention it," Paisley said.

"Um, Tony, I have to go to the bathroom. I will be right back." Ziva really needed to talk to Gibbs. She walked into the bathroom which, fortunately, was completely empty.

"Paisley is not the type that would pay for lunch every week without ulterior motive, Gibbs. Something is in that bill! Why else would he keep all of the receipts? What if he is supplying the Chinese proprietors of this establishment with the secrets he had been stealing?" she asked. "What if all of the proof we need is in that bill? We NEED to intercept it! Cough once if you agree, Tony." she heard a faint cough through her earpiece.

"Good. Do we have permission to take action and most likely blow our cover, Gibbs?" she asked.

"Affirmative. Take him down. Do whatever it takes. Don't wait up, we are on our way." Gibbs replied.

"Ok, the owner's name is Chen Shin Wang. I am texting his picture to your phones right now." McGee said.

"Alright, Tony, you get the receipt. I have your back. If he is indeed supplying Wang with the information, the he is going to have many men on his side." She instructed. Then she left the bathroom and strode out into the main dining area. She and Tony exchanged a nod, and he got up and walked with her to the other end of the table.

"Excuse me, Mr. Paisley? I am going to be needing that bill." Tony said.

"As I said, it's kind of you to offer to pay b-" "I'm not offering to pay. I need you to give me that bill." Paisley stood up. Ziva put her hands on her hips, to show him her badge and her-

"SHE'S GOT A GUN!" someone screamed. That's when Paisley tried to take off. Ziva was quicker. She gave him a kick to the gut and flipped him onto the floor. The staff had heard the commotion and came filing out of the kitchen. Of course, this included Wang, who came running out, gun in hand. He was flanked by two other gun-toting men. All three of their weapons were pointed at Ziva and Tony. They probably didn't care if they shot Paisley. He was just a pawn to them. He was disposable. Collateral damage. One of Wang's goons fired off two rounds, both missing Ziva by mere inches. This put her on the offensive. She didn't have time to draw her gun before she attacked. But it didn't matter. She, herself, was a weapon. The first man was on the floor in two seconds flat. But he got back up, and soon she was fighting three at a time. She could hear Tony fighting his own battle behind her. She didn't really have to focus too much on fighting, it was second nature to her. She took a couple punches, but nothing major. That's when she realized that there were only two. She put them in the sleeper hold and ten seconds later they were unconscious on the floor. A look around proved that Tony had done a good job with Paisley. She didn't know if he was dead or unconscious. But Tony, Wang, and his gun were MIA. That's when she heard the shots. They were coming from the direction of the kitchen. And they still hadn't stopped. "TONY!" she yelled as she ran towards the kitchen. When she arrived, she saw Tony taking cover behind an old and dirty stove. He was taking heavy fire from Wang, who stood with his back toward her.

"Tony!" she yelled again, this time catching the Wang's attention. He turned and fired his last three shots at her. She only shot at him once, but it did the trick. Sadly, Wang was a much better shot than his henchmen. She was hit, but gratefully, he was hit worse. Her round hit him smack dab in the middle of the forehead, his in her left shoulder. She fell to the ground.

"ZIVA!" Tony shouted as he ran over to where she lay. "Probie, call an ambulance! Agent down!" Tony shouted. "Hang up the dang phone and dial 911, McGee!" Gibbs ordered. Abby had called McGee to tell him that Wang was wanted for murder in 2 other countries.

"Timmy, what's happening?" she cried. "

"Ziva's been shot, I have to go!" he told her

"Ti-" Abby began, but McGee didn't have time to hear what she said next, because he was already dialing 911.

A/N: Please please review, I really want to know what you thought!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: This is it! Thank you to everybody who story alerted and especially reviewed! Tell me what you think once you finish!

Tony helped Ziva up and out of the kitchen and gently laid her on one of the tables.

"Rachel! Oh my god are you ok?" Sydney yelled. Ziva didn't hear her. She had entirely forgotten who Rachel was.

"Another one bites the dirt, huh?" she joked. Tony sighed,

"Dust, Ziva. Another one bites the DUST."

"How does one bite dust?" she asked.

"They... Can I get back to you on that? Anyways, you've just been shot and you're making jokes?" she was still clutching her wound, but was breathing normally.

"Keep in mind, I have had worse. Remember Somalia...?"

"How could I forget?" He moaned. She rolled her eyes.

"We need to get something to stop the bleeding," she told him.

"I know the drill, Zee-VAH." he said as he ran to the kitchen to get some towels.

"We are almost there, Ziva, hang in there." she heard Gibbs say to her. And that is probably why she didn't hear the footsteps coming nearer and nearer to her until there was a man standing over her, gun pointed at her head.

She barely had time to react. She grabbed her backup from her ankle and fired. Next thing she knew, Tony was running through the kitchen doors, gun in hand, and Michel Cotier was lying dead on the floor next to the table. Gibbs and McGee had both arrived at the scene at shot him at the same time she did.

"Your boss?" Tony asked her.

"Apparently." she said, staring down at him.

"Then what did Paisley do?" McGee asked

"He's over there. Why don't you ask him, Probilicious?" Tony replied. McGee rolled his eyes and went to go cuff the three unconscious men.

"There is one for Ducky in the kitchen, Gibbs." Ziva said. He walked over to the kitchen and peered around the corner. He saw two pools of blood, one trailed out to the table Ziva was on and the second was occupied by Mr. Wang.

"Nice shot, David. Especially for being wounded..."

"We fired at the same time." she explained.

"Why do they keep calling you Ziva?" Sydney asked as she approached the table. Ziva sighed. She couldn't believe that Sydney hadn't already figured it out.

"My name is not Rachel David it is NCIS Special Agent Ziva David." she said.

"And Tony?" Sydney asked.

"Now, his name is actually Tony." Ziva began.

"I am VERY Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS." Sydney was speechless.

"Doesn't it hurt?" she asked after a while, indicating to Ziva's shoulder.

"Of course it hurts why would you ask that?"

"It's just that, well, you're acting like it didn't happen, like it's no big deal."

"Well, if my life was in danger then I would be paying more attention to it, but since it is not, then I can act like this. It keeps my mind off it. Plus, I have had so much worse." Ziva said.

"BRING, BRING," Tony's phone was ringing.

"Abby," he said. "Boss, Probie-one-kanobi told her that Ziva'd been shot. Who knows what's going through her head right now? She probably thinks Ziva's dead!" Tony reasoned.

"Answer it, DiNozzo," Gibbs said.

"Put it in speaker. I want to talk to her but I don't want to get the phone all bloody." Ziva said. Tony nodded and flipped open the phone.

"TONY WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN ANSWERING MY CALLS? I have been freaking out ever since Timmy told me she'd been shot! Now whenever I picture Ziva all I can picture is Kate! We can't loose another agent, Tony!" she paused for a breath.

"Abby." Ziva said. But she didn't hear and just kept on rambling.

"How could you let this happen, Tony? Where were you when-"

"ABBY!" Ziva interrupted.

"Ziva? How...?"

"I am FINE, Abby. It hit my shoulder. I am FINE" she repeated.

"How did it happen? Can you imagine-" the line cut off. Before they could say anything, the doors to the restaurant slammed open and Abby ran in. "-the stress I have been under since McGee told me that you had been shot? Then no one would take my calls, so I had to see for myself." She stormed. Then her voice softened. "I was so worried about you, Ziva." she said as she gave Ziva a gentle hug. Then they were gradually able to hear the sirens in the distance as they grew louder. When the ambulance arrived, Tony and Abby helped her up and loaded her into the ambulance. Then they listened to the sirens of the ambulance that carried their friend fade away.

Ziva returned to work three days later. Abby and McGee took turns driving her around. Tony was his usual self, and so was Gibbs. Ducky continued to breathe down her neck, making sure that all of her medical needs were tended to. The team had already figured out who killed Petty Officer Crenshaw when she returned. Cotier got the information and passed it off to Paisley. Paisley then snuck the information to Wang using the bill at the restaurant. Crenshaw was onto Paisley, and when he became suspicious of her, he told Cotier, who went to her house, lured her out, and shot her.

"Did they really think that they could get away with it?" Ziva asked. She, McGee, and Tony were sitting at their desks. Behind her sat the bouquet of black roses Abby had gotten her along with a get well ballon.

"That's criminals for ya, Zee-VAH. Are you at least glad that your boring undercover mission turned exciting?" he asked sarcastically. Before Ziva had time to reply, Abby entered the squadroom sipping her Caf-Pow.

"Hey," she greeted them, "Just coming to check on you, Ziva.

"Abby, I am fine. You do not need to check on me every hour," she reassured her. Abby hadn't been able to stay mad at McGee for too long. It wasn't in her nature to hold grudges.

"BUT," Ziva continued, "I did get something for you and McGee for your trouble." she pulled out two identical white boxes. One had a black ribbon on it which she handed to Abby, and the other had a green ribbon which she handed to McGee. Abby gasped,

"You didn't! A chocolate lovers cupcake!" "It is almost identical to the one I gave you a couple years ago. And I got one for McGee to, and I trust that he won't steal it." Ziva said, giving McGee a meaningful look.

"Promise." he said.

"Pinky promise?" Abby asked.

"Don't worry, Abby. If he even touches it I will kick his skinny butt halfway to China." Ziva threatened. Abby smiled.

"Thanks, Ziva,"

"What, no cupcake for Tony David?" Tony asked, hurt.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" she said as she pulled out a box the size of her computer. She handed it to him. His face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning as he took the box and shook it,

"What could it be? A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF GSM MAGAZINES! No... That can't be it..."

"Why don't you open it and find out,?" Ziva prompted. He ripped off the wrapping paper and opened the box. He eagerly peered inside and found... Another wrapped box? He did the same thing with that box and found another, smaller box inside. The same thing happens five times more. "Making me work for my prize? That's low, David" he commented as he opened the last box. It was a Blockbuster gift card. He smiled. But that smile disappeared with a headslap from Gibbs, who had just entered the squadroom.

"Christmas already, DiNozzo?" he asked.

"No, boss, I-" Tony began.

"It was just a little something to say 'Thanks for saving my life,'" Ziva interrupted. Gibbs smiled a little. He liked it when his team got along.

"Got a dead Marine: Grab your gear" he told them as he tossed the keys to Tony.

FIN


End file.
